Dispensing cabinet



Sept, 2, 1947. w. J. bwzu. 2,426,787

' DISPENSING CABINET Filed Nov. 19, 1945 I INVENTOR. W/Zl/AM .1. owe-a,

iatente d Sept. 2, 1947 sir-Ares lament {OFF-ICE wiuism r oweil, New York, N. assignor'to FEW/Products 00., Inc, Albany, *NfiY a *corporation' o f New York Application November 19, 1 9425,:S6tia1-Noz629L374 3"'Claims. '1

The present .rinvention .rlates vto .a dispensing cabinet for toilet .tissue,..pa per towe1s and'the like, and aims to provide certain improvementsthere- 1n.

An object of the invention is toprovide a dis pensing cabinet of the class described -.wherein folded sheets ofto'ilet tissue, toweling'and thelike will be supported in a horizontal position .down to thelast few sheets-remaining in the cabinet and thereby prevent sagging .an'd-the accidental group removal of. said lastffew sheets. A'further cbjectis to.provi'de a dispensing cabinet in which a single sheet may 'begrasped and withdrawn from thecabinet regardless'of whether the sheets are .interiolded or not. A further object is to provide a dispensing cabinet in which it isnot necessary to interleave the .top sheet of the last few remainingisheets-in the cabinet with the bottom sheet ofan'insertible. new stack, or to manually feed a fold of the bottommost sheet of a stack through the dispensing slot to start the chain feeding or .the sheets.

Thetforegoing and other-objects notspecifically enumeratedI- accomplish by forming adispensing cabinet having at its bottom supporting ledges disposedin a common horizontalplane with slopingguides leading "from said ledges formed'with cut-outs or recesses to accommodate the ends of th fingers of a users hand'to .facilitategrasping the fold of .a single sheet which will rest on one of the sloping guides. The nature and novel features o'fthe invention will be readily understood from the detaLileddescription which follOWs when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

'Figure 1 shows aperspective -view of adispensing cabinet embodying my invention, the housing and container being in open relation. I

Fig. z shows-a central vertical section through the cabinet shown 1, with theparts in closed operative relation 'for dispensing folded non-interleaved sheets.

Fig, 3 shows a view 'haliin topplan and'ha'lf in horizontal section of the cabinet shown in Fig.2.

Fig. -.4 is a fractional sectiono'fjthe'lowerend of the cabinet shown 'in FigfZillustrating the'use thereof with interleaved paper towels.

Referring .to-theedrawings, the dispensing cabinet consists of a substantially rectangular container ID of asizeto hold .a quantity of folded toilet tissue, towels or the like, and a housing member .1! for substantially entirely enclosing the container and giving to the device as a whole a more esthetic appearance.

The container Hl-consists'of a'rear'w-all l2, side walls .13, a divided. front wall .having a .pair of spaced apart wall sections Ma and l4b,,.an .a bottom wall indicated .generallyby the reference numeral I 5 and having a paper delivery space 1Y6 therein. The rearwall I2 is formed with offset portions toprovide-bearlng areas for engagement with a supporting wall, certain of said bearing areas having vertical slots ll and horizontal slots l8 therein, through which securing-meansmay be passed' f-or attachingthe container to a wall. The front wall -sections 44a and Nb are each formed with openings I9 through which ascrew driver or other tool maybe inserted for engagement with the -fastening -means intended to be passed through the horizontal slots [8. The container I 0 and-housing member I Larepivotally connected together :adjacent the lower rear ends .of their respective-side walls as shown at. The structural elementsiof thetcontainer- I 9 and housing LH thus far described are notpart of the present invention. The novel-features of my dispensing cabinet will now be described.

-Ihe bottom 15 of the container comprises a supporting ledge 22 extendinginwardly from'the rear wall-:andasupporting ledge 23 extendinginwardly from the iront wall, said supporting ledges being cfsub-stantial width and Jyingin a common horizontal plane when the containeris in-operativeposition, Extendingobliguely downwardly .fron i thesupporting ledge 22 is an inclined wall 14, the loweredge of whichis bent or rolled back-upon-itselfas indicated at 2-5, and said ed e is formed witha :medial substantially semi-circular recess -Zfi intersecting the delivery space to in the bottom'of the container and extending inwardly -a=distance sufficient to .permit the-end of a finger of a user's hand to pass through said recess. The supporting ledge23 at the divided =front wall of the container is also formed with [a downwardly inclined wall 2-! directed-toward-theinclined wall-24 and terminating in spaced relation above the lower edge of said letter wall. The downwardly inclined wall 21 bei lg a divided wall it provides a medial space between the inner edges of said wall sections, which medial-spaceas will -be-apparent-froml ig. 1, is of the same Width as the --distanee between the vertical edges ofthe front wall sections. Ma and Mb. The lower terminal edge of'the wall 21 'is likewise turned back upon itself, as indieated at-ZB. I 7

When astack oi spaper sheets 29-each-having a sing le relatively wide folded flap is mounted in the-container 'l-ll, asshown in Fig. 2, the :ledges 3-2 wand, 3 will support the stack ,in --horizontal position #even to the condition where but a-few lastsheets are left in the container. Oi course, the stack offolded :paper sheets will be inserted in the container with the :folded flaps directed downwardly, so that, regardless of whether -a flap is directed towardthe rear, ortoward the front of lthe container, it will droop from a ledge to overlie 0l1E-0fvthilHClilflBd walls 24 or -2 1 and may be readily grasped between a finger and the 4 housing member and having a locking bar 36 which is pivotable by a key to engage and disengage the hook members serves to lock and unlock the housing and container together.

sheet therein shown is removed in the manner l indicated, the folded flap of the next succeeding sheet will extend over the shoulder 21. Accordingly, it will be seen that although the paper sheets are not interfolded, the flap of the bottom most sheet in the stack will always be available, and because of the horizontal support provided by the ledges for the paper sheets, the danger of the last few sheets remaining in a container sagging and being withdrawn as a group at one time, is thus avoided. It will also be appreciated that the necessity for interleaving the top sheet of the last few remaining sheets in a cabinet with the bottom sheet of an insertable new stack, or to manually feed a fold of the bottommost sheet of a'stack through the dispensing slot to render the succeeding sheets engageable, is thus obviated."

In Fig. 4 I have showna stack of interfolded paper towels in a container similar to that hereinbefore described, and it will be apparent in view of the interleaved arrangement of the sheets that a folded flap will usually bebrought down into engagement with the inclined Wall 24 as the bottommost sheet is withdrawn from the stack; Here again, however, it is not necessary to insert the folded sheets or towels in the container with respect to any definite relation of the flap, for, regardless of whether the flap rests upon the inclined wall 24 or 21, it will be graspable by the fingers of a users hand to withdraw the lowermostsheet and bring a folded flap of the next succeeding sheet onto one'of the inclined walls.

The housing member H is primarily intended to enclose the container to avoid unauthorized access to the container contents and to give a more finished and pleasing appearance to the dispensing, cabinet as a whole. It 'is important, however, that the housing when in container enclosing position does not interfere with the dispensing characteristics of the container. Accordingly, the housing member at the lower end of the front wall 30 is formed with an inturned flange 3| which is intended, when the housing is in closing position, to underlie the ledge 23 on the forward wall of the container. Also, in order that the medial space in the inclined wall 21 shall be fully accessible to a user when the housing is in position, the flange 3| is formed with a recess 32 extending forwardly from its free edge in alignment with the aforementioned space, the said recess extending upwardly in the front wall of the housing to approximately the height of the forward ledge on the container and said recess being of substantially the same width as the space in said forward ledge. The housing member may be ornamented in any desired manner and may be provided with a sight opening covered by transparent material 33 to apprise the user of the amount of paper sheets within Obviously the container and the housing mem-p ber may be made of any suitable material which lends itself -to stamping or moulding operations and thus provide for the cheap manufacture of the dispensing cabinet in question. v

Although I have shown and described by a sin gle embodiment of my invention and its applicability to either interfolded or non-interfolded forward and rear walls,'said ledges being disposed. V

in a common horizontal plane and each having a downwardly inclined wall directed toward the other and terminating in spaced apart relation to provide a delivery space between them, the

' forward supporting ledge and, downwardly inclined wall being divided into two partsleaving a space intersecting the'delivery space and the inclined wall extending downwardly from the rear ledge having a recess extending inwardly from its bottom edge intersecting the delivery space and being in alignment 'withrthe space providedby the divided inclined wall on the forwardledg'e 2. A dispensing cabinet according to claim 1 whereina housing member is pivotally connected to the rectangular container and is adapted to:

substantially enclose the same, said housing memher having at the lower end of its front wall an inturned ledge underlying the ledge on the forward wall of the container and said ledge on the housing member having a recess extending forwardly from its free edge in alignment with the space provided by the divided parts of the forward supporting ledge of the container.

3; A dispensing cabinet. according to claim 1 wherein 'a housing member is pivotally connected to the rectangular container, and is adapted to substantially enclose. the same, said housing member having atthe lower end of its front wall an inturned ledge'underlying the ledge on the forward wall of .the container and said ledge on the housing member having. a recess extending forwardly from its free edge in alignmentwith thespace provided by the divided parts 'ofthe forwardsupporting ledge of the container and extending upwardly in the front wall of the housing to approximately the height of the forward ledgeon the container and said recess being sub stantially the same width as the space in said forward ledge. v WILLIAM J. ONElIL; ,7

REFERENCES CITED 7 The following referencesa're of. record in the file of this patent:

- UNITED STATESPATENTS Number v I Name 7 Date 1,577,09l Arms Mar-.16, 1926 Peacock etal; j Sept. 8,1942 

